Saturday, December 31, 2005

I am 25 years old and still searching. I used to think that it was awful that I was 20 and was not established--for I wanted trailblaze the path of Barbra Streisand-- she had her first Broadway show at 19--I wanted to have a novel published at 19. Now I am 25. I see things a bit differently, but I am still anxious.

I by chance spoke to Charles over this holiday season. I absolutely feel for him as I know he is struggling. How was I, oh lord, the one picked to be the subversive force(although I don't mind it one bit;-))? However it is quite a tumultuous thing being involved with men who either have never questioned their sexuality before or who are tenuously trying to walk along the lines of American acceptibility(such bullshit, castrate it all).

Carl Rising Moore came to speak in West Lafayette not so long ago concerning his time spent with Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey, one of the things that he told us is Daniel Ellsberg is to have told him, among others, that the current political situation that we have right now in the U.S. absolutely reminded him of the rise of Fascism in Germany and he said that the next step would probably be that the Bush Administration(Right Wing Agenda)would move to make their power permanent

I think the politics of beauty definitely needs to be explored. One of the things that intrigues me about Barbra Streisand so is her magnificent beauty.....and the way that she manipulates and structures that. She is.....magnificently....and unconventionally.....beautiful.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

I saw the film Fat Girl in the theatres when it first came out while I was still in Montgomery. It was absolutely chilling. I remember being frightened as I left the theatre.Powerful film that definitely gives you a lot to think about.

The “Shakedown Gang”: Roy Innis and the New Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)Guest post by Patrick Jones

Founded in 1942 by an inter-racial group of pacifist students in Chicago, including George Houser, James Farmer, Anna Murray and Bayard Rustin, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) became one of the most important and influential civil rights organizations in the United States until the end of the 1960s. Profoundly influenced by the writing of Henry David Thoreau and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, CORE organized the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 and the 1961 Freedom Rides, and also played a crucial role during the student sit-in movement of the early-1960s, the 1963 March On Washington and the 1964 Mississippi “Freedom Summer” Project. CORE chapters were also involved in struggles for racial justice throughout the urban North, organizing rent strikes and a variety of campaigns to end employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schooling and police brutality.

Since 1968 when Roy Innis, one of today’s most prominent black conservatives, wrested control of the organization away from Farmer and others, CORE has become an affront to the group's founding principles and to its important contributions to the struggle for racial justice in the forties, fifties and sixties. Under Innis’s leadership, CORE has moved sharply right, aligning itself with the Republican Party, conservative think-tanks, anti-environmental organizations and large multi-national corporations, including drug companies like Monsanto, who give it large donations. The organization rarely engages in direct action and does not appear to have a significant grassroots membership, relying instead on its sizable contributions from Right-wing think-tanks and corporate donors to lobby in favor of their favorite conservative issues.

Roy Innis came to power within CORE during the Black Power era after a tumultuous and divisive internal struggle. He led the drive away from inter-racialism and toward an increasingly conservative black nationalism/capitalism. According to one former member of the group, Innis opposed the leadership of Gladys Harrington, the long-time head of the New York chapter of CORE, saying that women should not head black organizations. During the 1970s, Innis and CORE supported the murderous Ugandan dictator and Nazi sympathizer, Idi Amin, stating, "Ugandans are happy under General Amin's rule of Africa for black Africans” and terming the despot’s decision to expel 50,000 Asians from the country "a bold step." The following decade, Innis reportedly said “the so-called anti-Apartheid struggle” was "a vicarious, romantic adventure" with "no honest base." Also in the 1980s, Innis teamed with Bob Grant, the right-wing radio host who at one point called Dr. King a "scumbag," to form the Howard Beach Legal Defense Fund, which assisted a group of white youths who had chased a black man into the street to his death in a racial attack. Innis supported the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court and publicly defended “subway vigilante” Bernhard Goetz who shot and killed four African American youth on a subway in New York City in 1984.

More recently, the group organized an anti-Greenpeace campaign to uncover what it calls "eco-imperialism" on the left. Under Innis’s leadership, CORE has instigated or participated in a variety of campaigns to support and protect multinational corporations in their relentless pursuit of profit over worker/human rights and respect for the natural environment. CORE also defended Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott after his sympathetic comments about Senator Strom Thurmond's "Dixiecrat" run for President in 1948. In 2000, Innis supported extreme right-wing candidate Alan Keyes’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he told Justice Department officials that young African American Muslims in prison and at colleges were ripe for terrorist recruitment ("a clear and present danger," in his estimation). During a February 2005 speech, Innis lamented "liberals coming into Black churches" and "the 1500 black children aborted every day." He also said it is a myth that "slavery has done some irreparable harm [to African Americans].” Addressing the supposed dearth of black leadership in the U.S. today, Innis reportedly said, "We have a black leadership; George Bush is our leader." In April 2005, CORE sent a letter to the Senate encouraging an end to the filibuster in order to get President Bush's upcoming Supreme Court nominees through the process. CORE has also advocated an abstinence-first policy to combat AIDS in Africa and has criticized the UN ban on DDT in Africa calling it a means to hold back those nations from "modernizing." Roy Innis has served on the boards of the Hudson Institute, a Right-Wing think-tank, the Landmark legal Foundation, which led the charge against Bill Clinton in the 90s, the National Traditionalist Caucus, a group that works against women’s rights and equality for gays and lesbians, and the National Rifle Association. Innis has also been a featured speaker at a Christian Coalition gathering.

Niger Innis, Roy’s son, acts as CORE’s public spokesperson and has taken an increasing leadership role in the organization over the past few years. In early 2005, Niger called WV Senator Robert Byrd a "racist" for delaying confirmation of Condaleeza Rise as Secretary of State. Niger occasionally writes for the National Review and has spoken at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC] on several occasions, which is billed as the “largest gathering of conservative political activists in the country." He is a board member of the Alliance for Marriage, which seeks a constitutional amendment to define marriage solely as a union of a man and a woman, and “Project 21,” which bills itself as a "National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives.” During a recent interview supporting John Roberts’s nomination for the Supreme Court, Niger Innis called African Americans who vote for Democrats "useful fools."

Over the past few years, CORE has honored a series of individuals at their annual Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration who are hostile to racial justice and human rights, including Jorg Haider, Australian politician and Nazi-sympathizer, Bob Grant and President George W. Bush’s political architect, Karl Rove, claiming Rove's “mission is to fully integrate our people in every aspect.” In 2006, the group is scheduled to honor Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, UN Secretary John Bolton, and Pfizer Vice-President Rich Bagger.

James Farmer called CORE under Roy Innis's leadership a "shakedown gang." Glen Ford and Peter Gamble, prominent black journalists, have written that CORE now has "a tin cup outstretched to every Hard Right political campaign or cause that finds it convenient - or a sick joke - to hire black cheerleaders" and describe Innis as a "gangster 'civil rights' caricature." Shiela Michaels, a long-time civil rights activist, has written that Innis has “shamed the name of CORE.” Dr. Herschelle S. Challenor, Professor at Clark Atlanta University, in a 2000 speech at the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa, drew this comparison between James Farmer's leadership of CORE and Innis's: "James Farmer, the leader of CORE during the highpoint of the civil rights movement, was a bright, dedicated activist of unimpeachable integrity. His immediate successor, Roy Innis was seen as a chameleon prepared to change his political ideology as necessary. There were rumors that he worked in later years as an FBI informant."

This summary was culled from a variety of print and online sources. It is intended as a public service, rather than a piece of formal or original academic work

Perhaps related to the previous post, I am intrigued with Derrida's idea in Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness of cities being places of refuge....independent of states and solely for the purpose of harboring refugees and people in search of asylum. Also, the idea of a stateless person is something that I am quite sure is foreign to the average American mind because it is quite foreign to mine. I am trying to get my mind around it as I think it is an interesting state to be in.

I just wanted to comment on something, and I am going to put it in bold because I think it needs to be heeded and listened to.

It has been four months since New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. How can they take away the aide to these people? There lives were completely destroyed in this hurricane--largely due to the horrendous unhumanity of capitalism and its lack of concern for human well-being and now they expect them, after FOUR MONTHS to have pieced their lives back together and become self-sufficient. I find it horrendous and I think this government ought to be castigated for it. Capitalism is wicked and horrible, and to expect these people to fend for themselves four months after having their lives torn apart is inexcusable, inhumane, and totally ought to be taken out of the realm of posibility. This is a blatant example of the inhumanity of capitalism--their message to these people that their time is up, that they will only provided the equivalent of a "sick leave" from this government in order to get their lives back in order....always, everything in capitalistic terms. I think there has to be some drastic measures taken to return this government to its intent and purpose of being FOR the people and BY the people.

Come gather 'round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou'll be drenched to the bone.If your time to youIs worth savin'Then you better start swimmin'Or you'll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and criticsWho prophesize with your penAnd keep your eyes wideThe chance won't come againAnd don't speak too soonFor the wheel's still in spinAnd there's no tellin' whoThat it's namin'.For the loser nowWill be later to winFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmenPlease heed the callDon't stand in the doorwayDon't block up the hallFor he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThere's a battle outsideAnd it is ragin'.It'll soon shake your windowsAnd rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don't criticizeWhat you can't understandYour sons and your daughtersAre beyond your commandYour old road isRapidly agin'.Please get out of the new oneIf you can't lend your handFor the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawnThe curse it is castThe slow one nowWill later be fastAs the present nowWill later be pastThe order isRapidly fadin'.And the first one nowWill later be lastFor the times they are a-changin'.

I just had a conversation with someone I know, who is also from Chicago and just went back for the Christmas break. When I asked how he was enjoyed the city, the response was "I'm not." This befuddled me a bit--how can you not enjoy being in the city? Especially as there are pubs, clubs, museums, art, music, all sort of culture. So on probing further he let on that he did not like hanging out in the city because he didn't know anyone and he also didn't like going out to bars and drinking alone. I find this response quite interesting, as I so enjoy my anonymity. I love being a nameless face in a crowd...just another wild, carefree dancer,singer,actor on that stage of Cosmopolitan living. Mind you, I do enjoy having my name and I want to be known-- I want to be recognized.....but then also I simply enjoy throwing on my cloak and wandering the streets exploring and discovering the indefinite beauty of the unknown.

I was just thinking about this one time when I went to lunch with someone, a friend of mine--who had claims to being a progressive. That day when I met him for lunch though he was dressed head to toe in designer, expensive clothes that just said "I am a bourgeois capitalist." It was an interesting moment.

Bush is quoted by ABC News as saying that terrorists "want to attack America again and kill the innocent and inflict even greater damage" than four years ago. "Congress has a responsibility not to take away this vital tool that law enforcement and intelligence have used." Talk about scare rhetoric. Please pick this apart. And alas,I find it utterly reprehensible and absurd that this man would DARE to go before the public and justify his allowing for wiretapping and covert spying operations as "dire to our national security. This is even worse than Richard Nixon or J.Edgar Hoover ever were. Someone needs to start making cracks in this goddamned system.

There is this boy that I see all of the time. He is arab--full, beautiful lips.. gorgeous body.... my mouth waters when I see him. God forbid I could definitely ravish him...alas, he is terribly straight....so far....

Thursday, December 15, 2005

France had two Josephines, both beautiful, gorgeous women--magnificent with an animallike magnetism to them that attracted the attention and admiration of all. One, the granddaughter of a martiniqan slave and the wife of a Corsican general, the other the daughter of a St. Louis washerwoman who captured the eyes and attention of the world with her angelic voice and the enchanting movement of her body.

I am revisioning my SOP as we speak. I am still thinking of your proposition as to what ethnicities role will be --and it has made me think --especially looking further at it, that perhaps it is not simply ethnicity that will be the major factor--but I perhaps it will be the place where intersecting oppressions meet. As such, it will be a very complex picture-- one where it isnt simply a question of race(even though I think that is a fallacy, so even ethnicity if you may), or gender, or even simply class-- but the places where these things intersect--I think Patricia Hill Collins calls it the interlocking systems of oppression or something like that. It will be where all of it comes together--race, class, gender, and sexuality. I am thinking of Hurricane Katrina--that was not simply racial that was race and class. Alas, I believe this entire assault upon abortion (although it may spread) is not even simply gender-- it is class,gender, and race all together. So that in terms of race and gender perhaps you have people like Condoleeza Rice sititng in the power structure while poor people are sitting on rooftops in New Orleans, or people like Ann Coulter speaking for the Conservative agenda while poor women get denied access to safe, legal abortion. What do you think? I think perhaps this is perhaps the picture we are seeing.

Tonight was interesting. I went out for a drink....thats what we will call it, with a friend of mine and we met some friends of his(which includes a boy that I know, and who I didn't know was going to be there). So, there is this friend of mine, two Indian boys, and a white girl. and we are all sitting at a booth and this girl starts talking about effeminate men and butch women...and I don't know, very heteronormative rhetoric coming from both sides of the conversation that was being had...so I threw into the conversation ," Have you ever seen the film Myra Breckenridge?" Ha!! I mean really....heteronormativity really catches me by surprise when I hear it--not because I don't know or think that it is prevalent and dominates this culture....but because we have BEEN THROUGH THE 1960s ALREADY? And there has been a progressive movement underfoot to cut down some of these established hierarchies, systems of oppression, and restricted and coformativity-inducing ways of thinking. Mind you, I don't care or mind or even concern myself with people's right and want or need to hold these values, that is absolutely well and good---but to enforce them as rules of a society is another thing altogether. Alas, I think they hinder the liberation and human possibilities of ALL people--and I suppose some people feel the need for those restrictions and so be it, for them.

So, I told them what Myra was about and what occurred in the picture and the table got realy silent..and this girl got a ve sour or annoyed perhaps would be more appropriate look on her face.... and I was quite amused. So, I think the girl had either heard about it or seen and she asked me who was in the film and I told her Raquel Welch and Mae West. I was surprised to see that she knew who Mae was and I was startled when she described Mae as being butch. Oh My God! Mae West? Butch? What in the hell? I didn't press that further other than to say, "you think so?" Now, talk about gender construction and concepts of gender, masculinity and femininity. Mae West, the sexual goddess of the 20th century, who made men's mouths water and who also had every drag queen and gay man at her feet and in her court--butch? Oh my...what a concept...and Ill leave it at that. Alas, the strict adherence to heteronormativity at that table was something to witness.... my god what a military fortress. Strict codes.....oh what a world we live in...

Obedience to God comes before obedience to human authorityRender Unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God'sLet your will be done, not mineWith the help of God's graceWith the waging of warWe will not complyWith the preparation and training of warWe will not complyWith the forces of fearWe will not complyWith the legalization of murderWe will not complyWith the legalization of genocideWe will not complyWith laws that betray human lifeWe will not complyWith the bombing of civiliansWe will not complyWith the bombing of citiesWe will not complyWith the violating of our earthWe will not complyWith the destruction of peoplesWe will not complyWith the raping of womenWe will not complyWith governments that are blind to the sanctity of lifeWe will not complyWith economic structures that impoverish and dehumanizeWe will not complyWith the manipulation and control of public informationWe will not complyWith economics that manufacture instruments of deathWe will not complyWith the perpetuation of violenceWe will not complyWith the hypocrisy of political maneuveringWe will not comply

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

by Nikki Giovanni i am 25 years oldblack female poetwrote a poem askingnigger can you killif they kill meit won't stopthe revolutioni have been robbedit looked like they knewthat i was to be hitthey took my tvmy two ringsmy piece of african printand my two gunsif they take my lifeit won't stopthe revolution

my phone is tappedmy mail is openedthey've caused me to turnon all my old friendsand all my new loversif i hate all blackpeopleand all negroesit won't stopthe revolution

if i never writeanother poemor short storyif i flunk outof grad schoolif my car is reclaimedand my record playerwon't playand if i never seea peaceful dayor do a meaningfulblack thingit won't stopthe revolution

the revolutionis in the streetsand if i stay on the fifth floorit will go onif i never doanythingit will go on

I have not always been as Black* as I have been. I remember my sister used to tell me that I was "so Euro it wasn't funny." Indeed, I was all about European History and things concerning Europe. I can still perhaps recite all of the Kings and queens of England who actually reigned from memory, with a few pauses for thought...and I must say that I take a great distinction(one which I share a bit with my mother) in being sort of an amateur royalist....I could literally name for you all of the royal houses that ever were in all of Europe--from all of the tiny little kingdoms and duchies of Italy to the House of Vasa in Sweden and Denmark, all the way over to Russia, not to mention England, France, and the rest of Western Europe. I was all up into it--and still do enjoy it somewhat. But then, I dont remember which came first-my finding Souls of Black Folk in my Uncle Lawrence's library or my Uncle Donald giving me his copy of Langston Hughes'I Wonder as I Wander, but around that time I began to develop a consciousness--and become interested and appreciative of learning things about myself--and where I came from(I'll add more to that in a few minutes).... I remember reading the Ebony History of Africa...by Johnson...I can't remember the correct name of the book or the author, I believe he is the son-in-law of the main Johnson. Anyway, it was quite influential. Then I read a lot of other Black,Diasporic, and African histories...and I began to read about many other peoples of color...and from there I developed my consciousness into what it is today. WIth that said, in reference to knowing who I am and learning things about myself--I already knew things about myself...and appreciated it--for, even before I was Black... I was a Deramus and a Goodson.;-)

Anais Nin provides such wonderful truths in her diaries. "Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction."

Anais Nin summed up my interpretation of Bakhtin's idea of the carnival(building off of the ideas of Umberto Eco and Julie Kristeva) in one sentence, "Henry, with his clowning, whips the world into a carnival."

I spent most of the day trying to get a new phone. The people at the mall sent me to circuit city and that was where my journey ended--at least the busy/crazy part of it. Alas, I got to circuit city, handed the lady the phone that she was supposed to program and do whatever to and then I politely said that I was going to go to the restroom and would return before she finished with my phone--which I was not being charged for. When I got back to her counter, she was done and so she handed my phone and other packacges and before I left she looked at me with this look that just sent horror down my spine, it was a chilling look, the face of some kind of death and she asked me "would you like to buy the kit that goes with that for $49.99?" It was in this horrid, beseeching voice that was just completely in the market. It sounded like death. I told her no, but that perhaps I might need it in the future. I grabbed my things and I left. I put the name on it, Naked Capitalism....just the death-drive urge running in pure rampant abandon through our culture.

To add to the thoughts from the previous post, my mother graduated from high school when she was 16 and graduated from college when she was 20, I wanted to have done that too--but I finished High school at 17 and college at 21, which I suppose is perhaps the norm. I also was thinking about alabama State University. I have been told that they have a building on the campus that bore the name Deramus, but if they don't they certainly need one as many of us have been through that institution--my grandmother and her sisters and brothers and first cousins(not to mention second cousins and other relatives) and my sister. We should have some part in it;-)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I do believe that my great-grandfather could have seen to it that my mother didn't have to go to that school. I think though, he was teaching her a lesson. However, it was not as dire as she made it out to be.

The story of how my mother integrated Hicks Memorial is quite an interesting little story to tell. She was staying with my great-grandparents while my grandmother was in Birmingham and then Chicago(where my mother eventually joined her).So, they got the letter in the mail asking if she wanted to stay at the colored school, Autaugaville, or if she wanted to take the opportunity to go to the white school(doesn't that sound like something from some game show....you have the opportunity to win a trip to Hawaii!...mhm). Well, my great-grandfather told her about the letter and asked her what she wanted to do. My mother says she was being sassy and smart and thought she was doing something big, so she told him "I'll go to the white school." That was at the beginning of the summer.

By the end, when it was time for her to go to school, she was reminded that she chose to go to Hicks Memorial. My mother said she had the biggest crying fit and threw herself upon the mercy of her grandfather to please not make her go to that school.Haha. He told her "You made your choice, and it's too late now, so you're gonna have to go." My mother tried to die. Haha! I believe her grandfather was for her what she is for me perhaps...the one who can do everything...even save her from going to the white school. Well, she was highly upset and dissappointed. Haha. Terribly funny. After that one year at Hicks Memorial, my mother then went to St. Michael's on the Northside of Chicago, where she graduated from. It was integrated---not so much Black and white as it was Latino, Black, Polish, Irish, and even Jewish(according to my mother). She also went to school there with my aunts Janice, Joyce, and Barbra, my fathers' sisters.

I was just thinking about, my mother integrated the junior high white school in the town where my maternal family is from. The DA in that town when we first moved back there, a white man, went to that middle school at the same time that my mother did. She used to tell me about how when she first got there he and some of his friends tried to be nasty to her and bother her in hallways. After she slammed them into the lockers a few times, she said she didn't have to worry about them anymore. So, it was always an interesting moment for me to see my mother and this man be quite cordial and sometimes even friendly to each other when they saw each other. That always was in the back of my mind.

Late on the night of December 26, 2001, Cory Maye, 21, laid asleep in his Prentiss, Mississippi duplex apartment, with his 1-year-old daughter in a crib nearby. A armed man entered his bedroom. Maye shot the man, who turned out to Ronald Jones, 29, part of a police SWAT team searching for drugs. Jones, the son of the local police chief, died from his wound. No drugs were found in Maye's apartment, although a search of the grounds and the adjoining property produced evidence leading to the arrest Maye's neighbor, Jamie Smith, for drug possession and trafficking. Despite Maye's contention that the shooting was in self-defense, a jury convicted him of murder in January, 2004, and he was sentenced to die by lethal injection.

These are the facts I learned about Cory Maye from reading the five brief stories about his case listed in the Lexis-Nexis database. All told, there were four AP stories and one from the Advocate of Baton-Rouge, Louisiana, with a total count of 1946 words, with the last story running at the time of Maye's sentencing nearly two years ago.

The reason that the world knows about the case at all is because Radley Balko, of The Agitator did some investigative reporting on his own (and be sure to read more here and here and here. He posts an e-mail from the prosecutor here. Battlepanda reports that bloggers are lining up across the red-blue divide to denounce the government's actions in the case. I'll be paying attention to whether Maye's case attracts renewed mainstream press attention to his case. Stay tuned.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go back where you belongGet thee behind me Satan, just leave me the Hell aloneTake your wars and your politics, your lust and your greedAnd go to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for me

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go back where you belongGet thee behind me Satan, just leave me aloneYou're a cheat, you're a liar, you're a scoundrel and a thiefGo to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for meGo to Hell, go to Hell, go to Hell, go to HellGo to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for me

Oh I tried hard to conquer my fears and my doubtsBut everywhere I turn I see your evil doin's all aboutI have suffered your sorrow, your heartache and griefYou keep dealing me a bad hand with a trick card up your sleeve

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go back where you belongGet thee behind me Satan, just leave me aloneTake all of your bad guys, your demons and fleeGo to Hell in a handbasket, heaven's calling meGo to Hell, go to Hell, go to Hell, go to HellGo to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for me

Oh, I know I'm no angel, but I'm better than thatAnd God is still my hero, and he can knock you flatThere is nothing but sorrow in that wicked place that you dwellTake your pain and your misery and go straight to Hell

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go back where you belongGet thee behind me Satan, just leave me aloneTake your drugs and your alcohol, your vices and leaveGo to Hell in a handbasket, just get away from meGo to Hell (go to Hell), go to Hell (go to Hell)Go to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for me

Spoken:

My brothers and my sisters (ah)I'm here to tell you that Satan is real (ah)He is real and walking around amongst us trying to destroy everything That's good and beautiful (ah)He wants to break our hearts and minds (ah)Destroy our dreams and plans (ah)He wants to tear us up in little pieces, Break us down and send us straight to Hell (Oh, my God)Ah-ha, you said a mouthful brotherOh, my God. Oh, my God can do anything (ah)My God can heal the sick (ah)Mend broken hearts and take our souls to heaven (ah)So Satan, listen up (ah)In God's name I rebuke you (ah)I stand up in his name, Look you in the eye and laugh in your ugly face (ha, ha, ha)

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go back where you belongGet thee behind me Satan, just leave me aloneTake your weapons of mass destruction, terror and sleazeGo to Hell with your corruption, just get away from me

Go to Hell, go to Hell, go to Hell, go to HellGo to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for meGo to Hell, go to Hell, go to Hell, go to HellGo to Hell in a handbasket 'cause heaven waits for me

Tag:

Go to Hell in a handbasket, heaven's calling meHeaven, heaven waits for me, so go to Hell

Spoken:

Oh, my brothers and my sisters (ah)God can deliver us from Satan's evil gripSatan, listen to me, My Father in Heaven can kick your astronomical ego right back to the pits of Hell (ah)Can I get an amen on that one?Oh, hallelujah. Oh, Satan, you ol' devil youGod can flatten you like a Sunday morning pancake (ah)Can I get a hallelujah on that one?Oh, ain't it so, ain't it so?Don't you love it, don't you love it?Satan, you can go to Hell

Is that final scene in Whoopi Goldberg's The Long Walk Homewith all of those women standing there, shoulder to shoulder standing ground to those white men." I started in Jesus....and I'm going through." How beautiful was that?

There is a real need for some real progressive movement. People are too lackadaisical, too complacent, too well-fed, and too comfortable. Perhaps there are no more progressive people left. In which case, the United States should just burn in hell.......

But out of my naivete or simplicity, or whatever. Anyway, I was on Wikipedia doing some research and, and I totally will not quote this for source or accuracy because everyone knows that Wikipedia is bullshit. Anyway, someone wrote on there that Angela Davis and Bettina Aptheker were lovers! My mouth is completely open--totally a new revelation. I mean I know, of course, that Angela is a lesbian--and that she and Bettina went to high school together--but this is a revelation, provided it is true. Perhaps only to me, but it leaves my mouth open. A totally new revelation. No wonder they are both at UCSC.

My grandmother used to tell me that when she was in school they would have to walk (or sometimes ride the horse)from Joffre to Autaugaville to go to school, which is a good twenty miles. Fess(McDavid) though, was very strict. If anybody was late, he would be standing there in the road out from the school and as they approached, having walked a distance to the schoolhouse, Fess would be waving his arm and shouting "Go Back! Go Back!" You didn't go to school that day. Haha. I would have been pissed to hell though if I had had to walk that long and turn back around though. Fess, god love him. He was something of a man for sure.

This uprise in ethnic violence in Australia peaks my interests ( and also makes me think that there is a need for castration in that corner of the world as well). Alas, all of this ethnic conflict that is occuring around the world really

Sunday, December 11, 2005

We Black Americans rise every morning and petition for the right to live to the end of the day. And your Thursday petition is not good for Friday, for Friday you got to start all over again. And this is what makes us so alienated…so estranged. And who do we take it out on… each other…because we are not prepared to identify the real enemy and deal with that enemy. We are not ready to make an admission and eliminate the effects of the admission. We have been successfully played for fools…that’s cruel, that’s hard. The game has been played on us and it has been a success. Now the only way to stop the game…is to study the players in the game and the game is about power…how you get it and how you keep it.” –John Henrik Clarke

Military autopsy reports provide indisputable proof that detainees are beingtortured to death while in US military custody. Yet the US corporate mediaare covering it with the seriousness of a garage sale for the local BaptistChurch.

A recent American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) posting of one of forty-fourUS military autopsy reports reads as follows: "Final Autopsy Report: DOD003164, (Detainee) Died as a result of asphyxia (lack of oxygen to the brain)due to strangulation as evidenced by the recently fractured hyoid bone in theneck and soft tissue hemorrhage extending downward to the level of the rightthyroid cartilage. Autopsy revealed bone fracture, rib fractures, contusions inmid abdomen, back and buttocks extending to the left flank, abrasions,lateral buttocks. Contusions, back of legs and knees; abrasions on knees, leftfingers and encircling to left wrist. Lacerations and superficial cuts, right4th and 5th fingers. Also, blunt force injuries,predominately recentcontusions (bruises) on the torso and lower extremities.Abrasions on leftwrist areconsistent with use of restraints. No evidence of defense injuries or naturaldisease. Manner of death is homicide. Whitehorse Detainment Facility,Nasiriyah,Iraq."

The ACLU website further reveals how: "a 27-year-old Iraqi male died whilebeing interrogated by Navy Seals on April 5, 2004, in Mosul,Iraq. During hisconfinement he was hooded, flex-cuffed, sleep deprived and subjected to hotand cold environmental conditions, including the use of cold water on hisbody and hood. The exact cause of death was "undetermined" although the autopsystated that hypothermia may have contributed to his death.

Another Iraqi detainee died on January 9, 2004, in Al Asad,Iraq,whilebeing interrogated. He was standing, shackled to the top of a doorframe with agag in his mouth, at the time he died. The cause of death was asphyxia andblunt force injuries.

So read several of the 44 US military autopsy reports on the ACLU website-evidence of extensive abuse of US detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan 2002through 2004. Anthony Romero, Executive Director of ACLU stated, "There is noquestion that US interrogations have resulted in deaths." ACLU attorney AmritSing adds,"These documents present irrefutable evidence that US operativestortured detainees to death during interrogations."

Additionally,ACLU reports that in April 2003,Secretary Rumsfeld authorizedthe use of "environmental manipulation" as an interrogation technique inGuantánamo Bay. In September 2003, Lt. Gen.Sanchez also authorized thistechnique for use in Iraq. So responsibility for these human atrocities goesdirectly to the highest levels of power.

A press release on these deaths by torture was issued by the ACLU on October25, 2005 and was immediately picked up by Associated Press and United PressInternational wire services, making the story available to US corporate medianationwide. A thorough check of Nexus-Lexus and Proquest electronic databases, using the keywords ACLU and autopsy, showed that at least 95percent ofthe daily papers in the US didn't bother to pick up the story. The Los AngelesTimes covered the story on page A-4 with a 635-word report headlined"Autopsies Support Abuse Allegations." Fewer than a dozen other daily newspapersincluding: Bangor Daily News, Maine,page 8; Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque Iowa,page 6; Charleston Gazette, page 5;Advocate, Baton Rouge, page 11; and a halfdozen others actually covered the story. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette andthe Seattle Times buried the story inside general Iraq news articles. USAToday posted the story on their website. MSNBC posted the story to theirwebsite,but apparently did not consider it newsworthy enough to air on television.

"The Randi Rhodes Show," on Air America Radio, covered the story. AP/UPInews releases and direct quotes from the ACLU website appeared widely oninternet sites and on various news-based listservs around the world, includingCommon Dreams,truthout, New Standard, Science Daily, and numerous others.

What little attention the news of the US torturing prisoners to death didget has completely disappeared as context for the torture stories now appearingin corporate media. A Nexus-Lexus search November 30,2005 of the majorpapers in the US using the word torture turned up over 1,000 stories in thelast 30 days. None of these included the ACLU report as supporting documentationon the issue.

How can the American public understand the gravity of the torture that iscurrently being committed in our name when the issue is being reported with noreference to the extent to which these crimes against humanity have gone? Hasthe internet become the only source of real news for mainstream Americanswhile the corporate media only tells us what they want us to know?

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University andDirector of Project Censored a media research organization.

Today was quite a blow with the death of RIchard Pryor. He was a beautiful man-courageous, funny, and a beautiful soul all around. He was one of the icons in my periphery when I was growing up, delivering the message to me of what it means and what it is to be Black and Beautiful, to be Black and Proud. His death marks the passing of an era. He, among other beautiful souls, presided over an era of progressive movement, radical social experimentation and change. I think perhaps, if anything could be said to sum up his legacy it is this: be very bold, speak truth to power, and never be afraid to stand and speak your mind at any given occassion.

Also, Senator Eugene McCarthy, former U.S. presidential contender and outspoken anti-war advocate, has died. He will also be mourned.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

As Sung by Aretha Franklin as well as Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway

If you want my lovin If you really do don't be afraid baby Just ask me You know I'm gonna give it to you Oh and I do declare I want to see you with it Stretch out your arms little boy, You're gonna get it Cause I love you ain't no doubt about it Baby I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, baby I love you

If you feel you want to kiss me Go right ahead I don't mind All you got to do is Snap your fingers and I'll come running I ain't lying, I ain't lying I heard you once little boy You know you got it I'd deny my own self Before I see you without it I love you Ain't no doubt about it Baby I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, baby I love you

Someday you might want to run away And leave me sittin' here cryin' But if it's all the same to you baby I'm gonna stop you from sayin' goodbye Baby I love you Baby I need ya Said I want ya Got to have you baby Don't let your neighbors Tell you I don't want you

One day, in teaching RS's class, we were discussing poverty in the United States and the effects of Urban Renewal and the creation of underclasses in the United States....and I compared the situation of plunging people into pockets of incredible poverty in this country(ghettoes) to the conditions which brought on the French Revolution. Somebody in the class picked their head up and said with great alarm in her voice, "Isnt that France? I mean, how can you even compare?" I got sort of a kind of look on my face which is probably on it now as I write this, and then I tried to perhaps walk around that. Lord Jesus have mercy upon us. Folks are dumb as shit these days.

Delta pilots and other airline workers are rightfully considering a strike to stave off having their benefits cut in order to save Delta Airlines from bankruptcy. I believe that this strike should be supported.

Ever since I was a very little boy, there have been two imaginary spinster sisters named Susie and Rita that have lived in the upstairs attic,sometimes with their grandfather, first at my Aunt Johnnie's house and ours(which was right across the street), and from each place then on. They were always the explanation for everything that happened in the house that didn't have an explanation-noise, etc.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway(Donnie)Our Time, short and preciousyour lips warm and lusciousyou don't have to wear false charms cause when I wrap you in my hungry armsBe real black for mebe real black for me

If I had been Francis Farmer, there would not have been a penis left in either Hollywood or the medical profession. She died in Indianapolis. I would love to find out something about how she ended, about her last days.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

In America you'll get food to eatWon't have to run through the jungleAnd scuff up your feetYou'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all dayIt's great to be an AmericanAin't no lions or tigersAin't no mamba snakeJust the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cakeEv'rybody is as happy as a man can beClimb aboard, little wogSail away with meSail awaySail awayWe will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston BaySail awaySail awayWe will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston BayIn America every man is freeTo take care of his home and his familyYou'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey treeYou're all gonna be an AmericanSail awaySail awayWe will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston BaySail awaySail awayWe will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Go to this website to find out about the atrocity taking place on the Northside of Chicago. The Chicago Public School system, at the behest of the Bush Administration no doubt, is installing a NAVAL ACADEMY at Nicholas Senn High School. Thousands are up in arms and they need all of the support they can get.

I am quite pleased with the CDs that I bought in Chicago,Bougaloo and Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway. My favorite picks from Roberta and Donnie would be, Baby I Love You, Be Real Black for Me, and I Who Have Nothing. Message to Leila: Girl, I could have been your mother.

I decided that I would clarify something...as I have gotten a few stares and questions because of it. I am not a drag queen. I do, however, identify with them wholly, I think they are beautiful and fabulous, and I think that the drag queen is definitely something all should aspire to.

Friday, December 02, 2005

I want to detail tonight chronologically as a means of telling the story. Firstly, I went to the LAPC coordinating committee, where we discussed some things that are now on our agenda. There is definitely something left to be desired as to how progressive and progressivlely bold the so-called progressive community is around here. Not that I dont love it, and I dont value them, but it could be better. Then , after that, I went to the Cultural Arts Festival, basically to be described as the semester event --culminating in the spring finale, where the Negroes of Purdue Shuck and jive for the white folks. I love being creative and I love having the venue for expressing myself and my art, in some form, but I REFUSE and I think that it is totally a negative to allow oneself to become caricature and the objectified for white gaze, espcially in a denigrating ay before any audience, and especially a white one that is of the nature of that of Purdue.

The theme for this semester's show was "Fade to Black, Black Images in Hollywood: We Do it To Ourselves." What kind of message is that?? And I am not even making a disavowal of the idea of acknwoledging one's own role in one's own subjugation, but the entire sentiment of this show was to present to its white audience the picture of a non-threatening negro who not only doesn't threaten the established structure, but who also will take responsibility and bear culpability for its own subjugation. This is a horrific statement on the self-esteem, self-pride, and self-valuation of the Negro. We need progress and we need it bad. Alas, to end on a higher note, BVOI director knows she can direct her ass off with a choir, kudos to McKenya, and Kevin Iega Jeff is a gorgeous man. God forbid, I just want a taste.

Malcolm is such a gorgeous boy. But I don't see him crossing that line at any point in time.He is a charmer, the boy that every woman or queen wants to either mother or get into their bed. I am certainly in the latter category.

BitchPhd is alerting everyone to the beginning of oral arguments in the case of Ayotte vs. Planned Parenthood which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a crucial case as it will be the precedent for whatever trend in which our rights to abortion will go in this country. It all depends on whether John Roberts is an asshole or someone who will stand up for the protection of the people. God help us all!

Who: Representative Gulf Coast hurricane survivors and evacuees will converge will their allies in over 50 grassroots organizations which make up The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition and The Mississippi Distress Relief Coalition. Together, they will share, heal and develop plans for organizing to move forward in their struggle for justice after Katrina.

What: The Gulf South Youth Assembly, The Gulf South National Assembly and The March for Human Rights.

Why: This will be the first assembly that provides those most negatively impacted by Katrina and its aftermath a chance to participate in developing national solutions for their own futures. A declaration of the people will be drafted and presented to Congress in an upcoming hearing sponsored by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, 11th District GA. These events will unite the movement of survivors, who continue to have their basic civil and human rights eroded away, as they build a sustainable and comprehensive plan for rebuilding their communities and lives.

Yesterday, police picked up Kyle Darnell Williams Williams, 19, on charges of having committed a battery that occurred on Purdue's campus on Tuesday evening. The police are also trying to pen two other assault cases on him as well. The claim of the police is that they saw him chasing a white woman down the street after they recieved a call concerning the latest battery case. The police are presuming that they will find blood stains on Williams' coat. At this point, the only thing I have to say is--- SOMEONE NEEDS TO GET THIS CHILD A GOOD LAWYER. ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Also, have the ACLU, the NAACP, and other civil rights organizations on hand to make sure that the police do absolutely EVERYTHING by the books. Castration is the key to our liberation.

You know, RS told me to be prepared for, but I absolutely was not prepared for the dynamics that would come into play when I took over her class in terms of my being a Black male in an authority position in a classroom setting full of white students. Quite interesting. Oh the little children.....

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

This is quite an interesting and informative article on the formation of street gangs in L.A., specifically the Crips and the Bloods of note. I will write more about these gangs later, especially as I learn and read more about them. I have been aware of these two particular gangs(which is what I was told they were) ever since I was a very small child. I was reared to be deathly afraid of anything to do with these two particular organizations--and their reputation of violence, guns, and death in particular were pounded into me with the fear of the lord. What I am discovering now, is that these two organizations had some very interesting starts-- as quasi-political groups concerned with community uplift-- alas I believe the fact that these two their ideologies or belief systems or practices that spread and encouraged youths to join into these organizations. There was something there. If only it could have been harnessed and turned into something substantial and with a community uplifting effect....

This article, GoodBye Pat Morita, Best Supporting Asian" is an interesting read. Mr. Lawrence Downes offeres a very clear and brutally succinct analysis of the career of Mr. Morita and the effects of racism and orientalism in Hollywood and in American culture as a whole.

To start with, in the discussion that I had with the students in RS's class, I also brought up the fact that Black women weren't the only group to gain franchise in 1965. Asian Americans, specifically the Chinese, gained suffrage under the Voting Rights Act as well. Alas, I thought of this just now as I was reading Margaret Cho's blog where she points out an editorial in the New York Times commemorating Pat Morita's death, which is entitled "GoodBye Pat Morita, Best Supporting Asian." What irony, what feelings and thoughts are conjured up. I find it also interesting that his first film role was as Asian no. 2 in Thoroughly Modern Millie, starring Carroll Channing. Carol, dear heart, passed for white throughout her entire career up until about two years ago when she announced to the world that her father was a Black man. Oh what tangled webs....

Yesterday in class, my students in RS's class and I had a good discussion in which we discussed the various levels of discrimination afforded to black women and black men. I saw many eyes grow wider(especially among the black students) when I laid out the time line that Black men gained the right to vote in 1870; White Women gained the right to vote in 1921; and Black women for all intents and purposes did not gain suffrage until 1965.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Bush's current focus on Immigration and his proposal of a guest-worker policy are so blatantly racist. The Latino community has given Bush quite an ample amount of support in his two terms in office. I think the Latino community should be more cognizant and better consider where they put their political support. I also think that they should stop working against their own interests and the interests of their community. In the light of people such as Vincente Fox, segments of the Latino community have moved far to the right and tried to amalgamate themselves into the White community. I think this will be detrimental to anything called progress as far as they are concerned and I think it will prove to be quite unhealthy for those who are partaking in it.

So they buried my Uncle yesterday. It was a sad moment. It is a heart-wrenching and rare thing to see my father cry. I have only seen him do that a few times in my life, it always pains me. My father and his brothers are beautiful men. I never needed The Distinguished Gentleman or any of the old films of Humprhey Bogart, Cary Grant, or the classy men on screen. I had them at home. My father and his brothers are suave, beautiful men, debonair and charming. I had my uncles and my father. That is all I needed.

Federal authorities have arrested and are making arrangements for the deportation of Imam Fawaz Damra, on their claims that he has raised money for terrorist organizations. This claim, on the part of the federal government, has been their justification(need to loose penis) for harrassing several Islamic organizations, mosques, and liberal activists groups within the United States. Something must and needs to be done about this.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Like a flower waiting to bloomlike a light bulb in a dark roomI am sitting here waiting for you to come home and turn me onlike the desert waiting for rainlike a school kid waiting for springI am sitting here waiting for you to come back home and turn me onMy poor heart, it's been so darksince you've been goneafter all you're the one who turned me offnow you're the only one that can turn me back onuhmy hi-fi's waiting for a new tuneand my glass is waiting for some fresh ice-cubesI'm just sitting here waiting for you to come onback home and turn me own.

My Cherie Amour, lovely as a summer's day My Cherie Amour, distant as the Milky Way My Cherie Amour, pretty little one that I adore You're the only girl my heart beats for How I wish that you were mine

In a cafe or sometimes on a crowded street I've been near you, but you never notice me My Cherie Amour, won't you tell me how could you ignore That behind that little smile I wore How I wish that you were mine

Maybe someday you'll see my face among the crowd Maybe someday I'll share your little distant cloud Oh, Cherie Amour, pretty little one that I adore You're the only girl my heart beats for How I wish that you were mine

I am in an odd place right now. I am feeling like....I am being pulled along in a direction that I don't want to go. Like I would like to be going elsewhere. I am sitting here at my cousin's computer listening to her Norah Jones, which is very mellow and I like it a lot( I haven't bought her CD yet). My cousin is bright, gifted, just out of high school with aspirations of going to Paris and becoming an artist(of which she is well on her way) and studying at the Art Institute in Chicago(which she is applying to for the fall). She is my source for all of my Simone de Beauvoir books....and my French existentialist books.....beautiful connections there....yet....I want more....

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Reminiscent of the ordeal of Angela Davis in the late sixties and early seventies, Jose Padilla has been held hostage by the federal government for three years without any real movement towards a trial. This is an utter violation of the very basic of our constitutional rights, which ensures us under the sixth amendment to a speedy and public trial. In total disregard of this, the U.S. government has had a history, especially since the revolutionary movement of the 1960s, of holding people in custody indefinitely, without any movement towards a trial, sometimes even without access to legal counsel. They held Angela Davis in prison for two years without ever going to trial and after the trial eventually occurred, she was acquitted of all charges. We live with a bullish monster as a government and it must be reigned in. Everyone must take it upon themselves to demand justice for this man and for all political prisoners.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

I turned on my television this evening( something I rarely do, which makes this all the more drastic) and what are they talking about on CBS news, but a bill put forth into congress to promote marriage by providing funding from congress that would award couples with around $9000 if they choose to marry. Several people in congress need to loose their penises. Patriarchy is a sick thing and we need to oversee its destruction.

General Motors is slashing 30,000 jobs in all of its plants in the United States....in order to save money. The question is do you think that the work that these people have done is just not going to be done anymore? I think not...American corporations always in search of larger and larger profits....

Monday, November 21, 2005

I am just starting to Read RS and JS's book. It is quite interesting. It speaks of the suggestion that perhaps time will heal and undo the rigors of racism in this country. My response is, No Dearie, time won't undo anything. Castration will. Eliminate this white/male power structure and we can all live in peace. You can live, you will just be relieved of the burden of your penis.

Some lady here on campus, I think she is slavic or perhaps Latin American, just turned around and asked me if I knew what spic meant. I would have liked to have a picture of the look that I know whas on my face.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

I was at Hunter's Pub last night and these two Hispanic men(they were half-hispanic, half latino) got into this argument with myself and a white girl about politics and later on in the conversation one of them told her she was stupid and reffered to her as "you people." She and I discussed this afterwards and we summed it up to a learning experience. White people learning what minorities are subjected to by scumbaggs...

The Plan To Invade Iraq Before 9/11 ...Barbra Streisand Posted on November 14, 2005 Last week Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid shut down the Senate. Frustrated, angry and seeking answers, Reid threatened to delay legislative action until the Intelligence Committee followed through on its promised investigation of prewar Iraq intelligence failures. Democrats are demanding answers...and now, so are the American people.

But let's remember... 9/11 and faulty intelligence alone did not lead to the invasion of Iraq. This war was being planned in the minds of some for many years. George Bush's former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill revealed in his book that at one of the very first National Security Council meetings after Bush took office in January 2001 he discussed the notion of invading Iraq and that he seemed desperate to find an excuse for pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein.

Many of Bush's inner circle are members of Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative think-tank that promotes an ideology of total U.S. world domination through the use of force. Back in 1998, PNAC sent an open letter to President Clinton urging his administration to implement a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power. This letter was signed by Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton and Richard Perle. These men, along with fellow PNAC members Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby, were the primary architects of the Iraq war 5 years later. In 2000, PNAC produced a document entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century. The plan outlined how the US should go about taking military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein is in power.

Let's remember some of our recent history with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The United States' relationship with Saddam has been vastly contradictory. In the 1980's, the U.S. heavily supported Saddam against Iran in the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam was in violation of human rights laws by gassing the Kurds. However, the US turned a blind eye, instead opting to retain a friendly relationship with Saddam in order to access intelligence. The US government furnished Saddam with weapons. We even have pictures documenting Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, shaking hands with Saddam in 1983! In 1990, Saddam invaded Kuwait, stating that he believed he had the silent permission to do so by then US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie. However, the United States, under George H.W. Bush, responded with Operation Desert Storm to quell the invasion. The same weapons we had given to Saddam to defeat the Iranians a decade earlier, were now being used to kill US soldiers. Although the Persian Gulf War was considered a victory for the United States, ultimately Saddam was not removed from power. This was a tremendous disappointment for the conservative hawks emerging in the Republican party.

Since the Gulf War, there has been a covert but persistent mission by neo-cons to overthrow Saddam Hussein by any means necessary in order to reorganize the Middle East in the name of democracy. However democracy was not the reason Bush gave to the country when he decided to invade Iraq....it was the presence of WMDs, which UN inspectors did not find. Former US top weapons inspector David Kay testified before congress asserting this fact. And Director General of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, requested more time from the administration to investigate the weapons claims in Iraq before rushing to war. Those in the Bush inner circle had tremendous influence on his final decision to unilaterally attack Iraq in 2003 without the support of the United Nations and the rest of the world.

The notion of invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam was gaining momentum long before the terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001. Only once America was attacked did Bush and his war mongering neo-con colleagues have the perfect opportunity to utilize faulty intelligence in order to make a case for war and garner the blind support of most of the American public. However, we now know that this war, where thousands of young American soldiers have died, was years in the making. Let's hope that the frustration, anger and determination felt by Democrats and the American public continue to fuel this investigation to uncover the truth.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

I am absolutely outraged by the response of the French government to the rebellion that is occurring in France at this time. The state of emergency that the French state has called gives them the power to restrict the movement of people of Arab and African descent at their whim, to search homes at random and at any given time, to censor publications, and to impose two month prison sentences for violation of the imposed curfew. The French government, and especially Villepan and Chirac, should be called upon to stop their doublespeak and to seriously pay attention and address the grievances of those who are rioting.

I am very glad to see that the people of Mexico do not accept Vincente Fox as their representative. I believe the same blunt object that castrates Bush needs to take Fox's as well. Mexico needs a president with some color!

Community groups in New York and Boston are accepting Hugo Chavez's and the country of Venezuela's generosity in accepting the cheap oil that Chavez has pledged to help the American poor due to the ill-effects of rising gas prices. Long Live Chavez!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

While conspiracy theorists keep the debate alive, few mention Mississippi's links to the murder of a U. S. president 42 years ago this week, says the author of two civil rights books that focus on the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta.

Susan Klopfer became intrigued with the Mississippi connection to JFK's assassination when she came across information linking a Delta icon to several others often associated with the tragic Dallas event, including a private detective from Vicksburg.

Seven years before John F. Kennedy's murder, the magnolia state's U. S. Sen. James O. Eastland met for the first time with Guy Banister, a controversial CIA operative and retired FBI agent in charge of the Chicago bureau, according to Klopfer.

"Banister was later linked to Lee Harvey Oswald and Mississippi's senator through involvement with Eastland's Senate Internal Security Subcommittee or SISS (sometimes called "SISSY")," writes the author of "Where Rebels Roost, Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited" and "The Emmett Till Book."

"The New Orleans Times-Picayune on March 23, 1956, reported that Robert Morrison, a former chief counsel for Sen. Joseph McCarthy's House UnAmerican Activities Committee or HUAC, and Banister traveled to Greenwood, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta, to confer personally with Senator Eastland for more than three hours," Klopfer said.

Describing the conference as "completely satisfactory," Morrison told the New Orleans reporter that "Mr. Banister has complete liaison with the committee's staff which was the main object of our trip."

Known as a notorious political extremist who was later described as the impetus for James Garrisonâ€™s 1967-1970 Kennedy assassination probe, Banister earlier became a brief focus of Mississippi's secret spy agency, the Sovereignty Commission, when it was suggested Banister should be hired to set up an "even tighter" domestic spying system throughout the state. Klopfer said she found this report in the state's Sovereignty Commission records.

A second Eastland operative, private investigator John D. Sullivan of Vicksburg, made this suggestion to the commission just months after the JFK assassination, also reported in released Sovereignty Commission records, Klopfer said.

"Former FBI agent Sullivan had worked for Banister (both inside the FBI and privately) and as a private self-employed investigator for the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission; the private white Citizens Councils, of which he was an active member; and for SISS, as had Banister and Lee Harvey Oswald.

"When Sullivan reportedly committed suicide soon after the Kennedy assassination, Sovereignty Commission investigators tried to acquire his library and files, but most of his confidential files were either reportedly burned by his widow or they had been lent out, and she 'could not remember' who had them, Sovereignty Commission files disclose."

Some twenty-nine years later, in testimony before the Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board during a Dallas hearing on November 18, 1994, the late Senator Eastland was directly implicated in the presidentâ€™s assassination by one of the author/theorists invited to testify, Klopfer said.

"Lee Harvey Oswald was quite possibly an agent of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and he was doing the bidding of [Sen. Thomas J. Dodd and Eastland and Morrison, author John McLaughlin swore."

Klopfer said that documentation that could support or even discredit such assertions could be present in the Eastland archives at the University of Mississippi, "but no objective scholar has been allowed to search these archives since the day they arrived on campus.

"Instead, Eastland's records were managed for years by a former associate and devotee who followed the papers from Washington, D.C. to Oxford," she said.

Eastland, a cotton planter from Doddsville, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta, was the consumate racist. "He often blocked money from coming into the Delta to feed and employ the poorest of Mississippians. Yet he was quite adept at collecting hundreds of thousands dollars of federal farming subsidies for himself," Klopfer said.

"There has been very little written about Eastland; his family and friends seem to be protecting what information is allowed to the public."

Eastland died in 1986 at the age of 82.

After an unsuccessful Freedom of Information Act or FOIA request to the University of Mississippi's law school by Klopfer, a historian was finally hired to organize the archives based in the James O. Eastland School of Law.

But there was still a waiting period scheduled before any of the files could be viewed, Klopfer said.

"I was informed that the plan was to release first all press releases, according to one Ole Miss historian who also told me that many important files were probably missing -- that the files looked cleaned out."

Klopfer asserts the law school dean, when presented with a freedom of information act request or FOIA for access to Eastland archives, asked her, while laughing, if he could "just show the rejection letter written to the last person who asked for this information."

Later, Klopfer said, it came back to her that â€œpeople at Ole Miss were really angryâ€? over the FOIA request.

Klopfer said she once spoke with historian Carol Polsgrove from Indiana University who also wanted to see the Eastland records.

"Dr. Polsgrove was interested in the white resistance to the civil rights movement, that it has not received the kind of attention from historians that the movement itself has--understandably, since there is nothing heroic about the resistance.

"She once thought about writing a biography of Eastland, who she terms the political linchpin of the resistance, and went so far as to call the University of Mississippi Law School, where his papers were kept.

"Polsgrove said she was told they were stowed in boxes in a basement--uncataloged and inaccessible. A library staffer explained to her, in hushed tones, that Senator Eastland was not quite 'politically correct'."

Klopfer notes that "Even today, Ole Miss doesn't seem to advertise the law school's identity - the James O. Eastland School of Law."

But like the Indiana professor, Klopfer said that she, too, would "really would love to go through all of Eastland's records. ALL of them."

I had two bumperstickers on my door--one had an American Flag on it and it said "These colors don't rule the world," and the other said "Doing my part to piss off the religious right." When maintenance came to repair my heater they tore them down.....

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Handholder

You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine.

You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said.

To the sound of slow....steady drum beats..... When it comes to the case of Evolution versus Creationism....why can't these motherfuckers just say....... I don't know......Whats so hard about that?....."I don't know....where you came from!....... Liddy Dole....is your Mammy.......I guess that makes you....Satan's spawn....."

Monday, November 14, 2005

The Plan To Invade Iraq Before 9/11 ...Barbra Streisand Posted on November 14, 2005 Last week Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid shut down the Senate. Frustrated, angry and seeking answers, Reid threatened to delay legislative action until the Intelligence Committee followed through on its promised investigation of prewar Iraq intelligence failures. Democrats are demanding answers...and now, so are the American people.

But let's remember... 9/11 and faulty intelligence alone did not lead to the invasion of Iraq. This war was being planned in the minds of some for many years. George Bush's former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill revealed in his book that at one of the very first National Security Council meetings after Bush took office in January 2001 he discussed the notion of invading Iraq and that he seemed desperate to find an excuse for pre-emptive war against Saddam Hussein.

Many of Bush's inner circle are members of Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative think-tank that promotes an ideology of total U.S. world domination through the use of force. Back in 1998, PNAC sent an open letter to President Clinton urging his administration to implement a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power. This letter was signed by Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton and Richard Perle. These men, along with fellow PNAC members Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby, were the primary architects of the Iraq war 5 years later. In 2000, PNAC produced a document entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century. The plan outlined how the US should go about taking military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein is in power.

Let's remember some of our recent history with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The United States' relationship with Saddam has been vastly contradictory. In the 1980's, the U.S. heavily supported Saddam against Iran in the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam was in violation of human rights laws by gassing the Kurds. However, the US turned a blind eye, instead opting to retain a friendly relationship with Saddam in order to access intelligence. The US government furnished Saddam with weapons. We even have pictures documenting Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, shaking hands with Saddam in 1983! In 1990, Saddam invaded Kuwait, stating that he believed he had the silent permission to do so by then US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie. However, the United States, under George H.W. Bush, responded with Operation Desert Storm to quell the invasion. The same weapons we had given to Saddam to defeat the Iranians a decade earlier, were now being used to kill US soldiers. Although the Persian Gulf War was considered a victory for the United States, ultimately Saddam was not removed from power. This was a tremendous disappointment for the conservative hawks emerging in the Republican party.

Since the Gulf War, there has been a covert but persistent mission by neo-cons to overthrow Saddam Hussein by any means necessary in order to reorganize the Middle East in the name of democracy. However democracy was not the reason Bush gave to the country when he decided to invade Iraq....it was the presence of WMDs, which UN inspectors did not find. Former US top weapons inspector David Kay testified before congress asserting this fact. And Director General of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, requested more time from the administration to investigate the weapons claims in Iraq before rushing to war. Those in the Bush inner circle had tremendous influence on his final decision to unilaterally attack Iraq in 2003 without the support of the United Nations and the rest of the world.

The notion of invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam was gaining momentum long before the terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001. Only once America was attacked did Bush and his war mongering neo-con colleagues have the perfect opportunity to utilize faulty intelligence in order to make a case for war and garner the blind support of most of the American public. However, we now know that this war, where thousands of young American soldiers have died, was years in the making. Let's hope that the frustration, anger and determination felt by Democrats and the American public continue to fuel this investigation to uncover the truth.

Upon my second reading of Invisible Man, after many years, I must say--now that I look at the book through a political context, I don't like it--and I agree with the critics of Ellison who came out of the 60s. I think he tries to debase radical movements and he is very much caught in an unprogressive mode.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

I was just thinking. MY childhood was very queer and very progressive indeed. I grew up wearing my sisters and my mothers clothes to school. We would wear each others sweaters and shirts, nothing more than that. It was all quite innocent and lovely.

I showed Stonewall in my class at Ivy Tech today. ha. The response was interesting. We will finish watching it and then discuss it. It has some very interesting play in it in terms of gender construction, power relations,etc.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The persecution of Sami Al-Arianis one of the most drastic examples of fascism at work in the United states. Someone should help get to Cuba. What is happening and what is going to happen to our civil rights and our right to free speech in this country? There should be a massive outcry against what is happening to this man in this trial.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Why don't you stopAnd look me overAm I the same girl you used to know?

Why don't you stopAnd think it overAm I the same girl who knew your soul?

I'm the one you wantAnd I'm the one you needI'm the one you loveI'm the one you used to meet

Around the cornerEverydayWe would meetAnd slip awayBut we were much too youngTo love each other this way

Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)

Why don't you stopAnd look me overAm I the same girl you used to know?Why don't you stopAnd think it overAm I the same girl who knew your soul?

I'm the one you hurtAnd I'm the one you needI'm the one who criedI'm the one you used to meetBut you are pretending you don't careBut the fire is still thereNow we are no longer too youngTo love each other this way

Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)

Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)Am I the same girl?(Yes I am, yes I am)

Have you ever felt the need for something moreWith every week comes scratching at your doorHave you ever stopped and wonder what it is you're searching forPush your luck too far with meBut if you push it any furtherYou won't have any

Saturday, November 05, 2005

The CIA and the United States should be made to pay for its sins. How dare they believe that that can construct secret prisons in order to do to people what they feel like and think they can? God these people get on my nerves. They definitely need to loose their penises.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Hattiesburg, MS (BlackNews.com) - William Carey College, a predominantly white Southern Baptist private school, has recently wrongfully expelled four black students for using an electric generator during the Presidentially-declared disaster.

Immediately following Katrina, several students of the college were stranded due to road blockage, gas shortage, or distance from their homes. A student went into a maintenance shed that had been ripped open by high speed winds and made use of a generator that remained on the campus.

This reportedly helped students recharge and use their cell phones while the land lines were down as well as give them lights at night. The men's dorm lobby, where the generator was being used, also became a safe haven of sorts for some of the remaining female students.

As the days passed and roads and gas became more available, the only students that remained were those whose homes were out of state, overseas, or destroyed. This small group consisted of three William Carey basketball players and one former player as well as others.

Senior Jeremy Irby, Junior Marvin Flemmons, Senior Dante Hardy, and Junior Jeremiah Blackwell were all expelled for using the generator that many students participated in using including school staff. They were told and given written notice that they were being expelled for conduct that was contrary to the schools handbook and there was not to be any appeal nor could they return to campus as visitors. This action itself was against school policy.

The students were escorted off campus by police with armed military personnel and had to immediately take with them all of their belongings with no place to go. No other students were expelled or repremanded. When asked what their plans were Marvin Flemmons replied, "We are looking for legal representation and we want our story to get out so this does not happen to anyone else."

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About Me

I am 28 years old, having completed my Master's degree in American Studies at Purdue University in 2005. A native of Chicago, I have lived in Indiana and Alabama. I am an activist, have a life-long pursuit of knowledge,and am a writer who looks forward to being published someday.